Internet Service Providers (ISPs) often receive troubleshooting calls pertaining to Internet access speed from subscribers. For example, having purchased service associated with a specific minimum upload and/or download access speed or bit rate, a subscriber may use a third-party tool to determine that the actual service quality is less than the purchased service quality. Applications as well as browser-based may be used for this purpose by the subscriber. For example, speedtest.net tests speed by monitoring download and upload data transfer between a subscriber device such as a laptop computer and a remote server.
Even if the test used by the subscriber accurately determines the data transfer rate or speed experienced by the subscriber device, the cause of a less than satisfactory determination may have little or nothing to do with the ISP. Problems impacting speed may include old, poorly configured or malfunctioning equipment, hardware and/or software at the subscriber location. Typical examples include old/incompatible Wireless Access Points (WAPs) or other Wi-Fi equipment, improperly configured or malfunctioning client device hardware or software, and so on. Unfortunately, valuable service personnel time is expended by the ISP helping a subscriber identify the cause of the problem.